Books I've Read This Year

You'll notice that I have a link at the top that says Books I've Read in 2009. It's my way of keeping track of what I've spent my time reading this year. I posted earlier this year about my reading list, and the list included some goals, one of which was to stick to the list of books.

As it turns out, I've read comparatively nothing on the list. The books I've actually read are not on the list, and they are incredibly diverse.

Some I've regretted reading as a waste of time, some I've read that I shouldn't have (what a waste of time!), and some of have been really, really good.

To sum up, I've read 100 books so far this year and I'll probably have 110 or so finished by the end of the calendar year. Of those books, 16 were non-fiction books written by Christians. 71 were fiction, and the rest were non-Christian non-fiction (such as Outliers by Malcom Gladwell).

Of those 71 fiction, I'd say I really wasted my time and shouldn't have read about 18 books. What I mean is, they weren't edifying for the Christian reader (unlike, say, Francine Rivers' books) and they weren't works of great fiction (such as Crossing to Safety by William Styron). They were generally brain candy. If you count 100 books as a healthy diet, 18% fat is probably okay, but still not the best. I'm embarrassed to say what the books are--you'll figure them out if you look at what I've read.

However, only 16% are non-fiction Christian books (such as The Prodigal God by Tim Keller). That's a pretty low percentage that I'd like to remedy next year.

Speaking of next year, I won't make another list because I have an entire bookcase (yes, six shelves of books) that I need to read but haven't. Almost all of them are on the 2009 list but I have a lot of new ones too. I'm really going to try my best not to add anything else to the shelf, or check out every book from the library that has a good review from the NYT. It's so easy to get distracted.

I'll probably do one more post on books I've read at the end of the year, with some recommendations for you, and more next year as I read books worth recommending.

Savin' the Money

While I was filling out all of my rebates for UP, I realized that while I could only use two of the three available for UP, one was good for Snow White as well. Coupled with the Hefty rebate on Snow White, that means I'm paying $1 for UP and nothing for Snow White! It took a few minutes to print, fill out the forms, cut up UPC codes, photocopy and mail everything, but for $20, it was worth it.

I also just did my annual Coinstar rebate--you deposit $40 in Coinstar and you get an additional $10 free. If you select the gift card payment Coinstar doesn't charge a processing fee, and, even better, you don't even have to change coins. Most Coinstars accept bills!

Finally, having discovered Woot! I made my first purchase (my father bought the Roomba for us). Bradford has been just dying for a tool bench, and I thought I'd get him one for Christmas, but for Pete's sake they're so expensive! But a few days ago I found this one on Woot! and snapped it up for $34.99 plus $5 shipping. $40 for a tool bench may not seem like saving, but trust me, compared to $62 on Amazon, it is.

And that works for me.

Potty Training Update

Things are going well with potty training. The very first day she didn't go at all until right before bed, in her pants. The second day she had a few accidents. The past two days she hasn't had any accidents at all, even in public places, except for her bowel movements. Those always seem to end up in her pants instead of the toilet. But it's been eight days since we started training and as long as she has the first mastered, I'm sure the second will work itself out in the next few days.

I've avoided putting stockings on her--just kept her in dresses with her legs bare. She can manage that, but the next step will be the ability to lower and pull up those heavy winter stockings, and then pants.

Overall, it's going well and I'm pretty pleased.

Monday Menu

Pretty normal week this week--nothing new or special. We are having a lot of soups this week because the weather is getting cooler (it's supposed to be in the 50s this week) and I love a good soup!

Monday: Couscous cakes (I added more garlic and used goat cheese instead of feta, and left out the tomatoes--they were a big hit with Mr. S!)

Tuesday: Creamy potato soup (with cream cheese--yum!)

Wednesday: At church

Thursday: Asian chicken and corn soup (I love Julia's food blog--she has easy to follow directions with simple, delicious recipes)

Friday: Fried rice (I'll add some shrimp to this)

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Beef barley lentil stew in the crockpot

Trip to the Mall

We took a trip to the local mall on Saturday morning because I received an email telling me that if I printed out the email and came to the mall I'd get a $10 mall gift card! Best of all, I could forward it to anyone I wanted, so I sent it to Mr. S. so we both had one.

The line at the mall to redeem the emails was only 15 minutes long, which wasn't so bad. We also received a coupon good for 15% off at the Disney store, and the store happened to be having a sale on these figurine sets. After the discount and the two gift cards I spent $14 out of pocket and got the three figurine sets plus a Jasmine doll for Christmas. Not bad, considering retail is $50 plus tax!

Anatomy of a Bike Ride

1. Bradford asks to go on ride around the neighborhood.
2. I ignore him because I remember what happened on the last bike ride.
3. He asks again.
4. And again.
5. I relent.
6. We look for Anne's shoes in her closet.
7. We look for Anne's shoes under her bed.
8. We look for Anne's shoes near the door.
9. We find Anne's shoes in the car.
10. We get outside and on the bikes.
11. Bradford decides he needs to use the restroom and goes inside.
12. He comes back.
13. Anne can't find her ring and goes inside to get it.
14. Bradford is halfway down the street.
15. Anne comes back and needs help getting down the "hill" which is a tiny slope.
16. I yell for Bradford to come back.
17. Anne makes it the length of a sidewalk square before being distracted by a speck on the pavement.
18. Bradford is back and takes off again.
19. Anne goes another square, stop pedaling, and smiles at me.
20. I tell her to start pedaling.
21. She keeps smiling.
22. I give her a push.
23. She pedals three times and stops again.
24. Bradford is a speck in the distance and I'm not sure that he hears me calling him to come back. He better not be able to hear me because he sure looks comfortable sitting on the corner up there.
25. Repeat steps 20-24 fifteen times.
26. Bradford has gone back and forth and back and forth.
27. At this point we're 1/3 of the way around the neighborhood.
28. Bradford declares he is "exhausted" and needs to rest.
29. Anne sees this as a challenge and starts pedaling faster.
30. Bradford screams for us to wait when we get two feet ahead of him.
31. He comes zooming by, which makes Anne think it must be her turn to rest.
32. Anne gets off the bike and sits on the pavement.
33. Bradford is a speck again.
34. I alternately threaten and cajole Anne to get back on her bike.
35. Repeat steps 17 through 34.
36. Arrive home, exhausted.
37. Tell the kids that there won't be any more bike rides today.
38. Wonder if it's acceptable to hide the bikes and tell the kids you don't know where they are.

Repeat the next day.

UP for free

Just wanted to make sure you're all aware of the opportunity to get UP for free. We took Bradford to see it and did not regret it--it's family friendly all the way.

And don't forget to snag your copy of Snow White on BluRay and DVD for $4.99! Assuming you bought your copy at Amazon for $9.99 (that deal is now over) you can send it for a $5 rebate from Hefty, available here. $4.99 for a BluRay/DVD combo is not bad at all!

I've got two Christmas presents for the kids checked off...